In the most of people way of thinking the bathroom is considered an area of the house not so important. But it isn’t: is an indispensable room and you can’t do without it.
In the period of human history, this kind of room, has undergone many changes, becoming also a real source of inspiration for many artists. Do not believe us? The art of Degas is an example.
Degas and his paintings
Edgar Degas was one of the most famous painters who represented the bathroom in his works, although he preferred outdoors, differently to his colleagues.
In 1875 he began to dedicate himself to indoors: he started to experiment a new way to use colors and effects of light.
In his paintings, Degas was able to represent people and subjects in a natural way, with simple strokes but strong and firm.
In the act of bathing, women are portrayed in different angles, but usually from behind, without showing their faces and eyes: the inner life of the models is hidden to the observer.
The bathrooms represented in Degas’s paintings show the woman figure far from the social and family roles typical of the nineteenth century. This is underlined by the names of some of his most famous works: “After the bath, woman dries the neck” and “Woman in the bathroom you wash herself”.
The mastery of the painter goes beyond the great technique: Degas is able to give to his paintings and his women a big expressiveness, event though he represented the subjects from behind.
His art consists not only to propose naked people but to represent real and concrete bodies, expressing something beyond mere appearance: the painter tries to portray emotions through the subjects, which were difficult to show until that moment.
